Bea Reviews Trust In Me by Sophie McKenzie

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK 
Format Read: paperback
Source: publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 11, 2014
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Blurb from goodreads:

The suspicious circumstances of her best friend's suicide drive a woman to the possibility that it was murder—a murder which might involve the same man who killed her sister eighteen years ago

On a quiet, gray, Saturday morning, Livy arrives at her best friend Julia’s flat for a lunch date only to find her dead. Though all the evidence supports it, Livy cannot accept the official ruling of suicide; the Julia she remembers was loud, inappropriate, joyful, outrageous and loving, not depressed. The suspicious circumstances cause Livy to dig further, and she is suddenly forced to confront a horrifying possibility: that Julia was murdered, by the same man who killed Livy's sister, Kara, eighteen years ago.

Desperate to understand the tragedies of her past and hold her unraveling life together, Livy throws herself into the search for Kara and Julia’s killer, who she now believes is someone close to her family. But if that is true, who can she still trust? Damien, the man Julia was secretly dating? Leo, her husband’s boss and a close family friend? His son Paul, her husband’s best mate since college? Or Will, her own dear husband, who has betrayed her perhaps one time too many?

When Livy finally faces her sister’s killer, and he tries to force her to destroy her family with one horrible, impossible choice, she must finally decide: is she strong enough to trust herself?

Bea's Thoughts:

I've been on a roll lately with finding new to me mystery authors and McKenzie is another one. The beginning was a little slow and the lead Live could be irritating, but I gradually was pulled in until I was almost halfway through. It ended being a fascinating and absorbing story.

"Trust In Me" is a mystery and so much more. McKenzie uses the story to examine our notions of love, friendship, and intimacy and particularly our idea about how well we know someone else and is it possible to ever really, completely know another person. Livy and her friend Julia first met through Livy's late sister Kara but they didn't become friends until after Kara was murdered while in college. Since then they have become the best of friends despite living different lives.

Julia dies from an apparent suicide but Livy refuses to believe it. She is in complete denial while others around her, including Julia's family, move past their denial and accept, to varying degrees, that they didn't know Julia as well as they thought and that she really killed herself. This was one of the story's strengths. Another strength was the skillful way McKenzie shows us the emotional trauma and wreckage that the suicide of someone we love leaves behind when they die. As Livy digs into Julia's death she comes to realize that she really didn't know her friend as well as she thought nor certain other people in her life. We all have secrets as well as sides of ourselves that we show to some people in our lives but not others.

Also excellent are the glimpses into the killer's mind and yes there is a killer. The ties go far back and are intertwined with Livy's family. We're presented with several viable candidates for the killer and I was kept guessing until the reveal. McKenzie slowly unveils the killer's thinking and motivations and makes it all believable.

Livy, as I mentioned, was irritating at times and weak. She and her husband are dealing with the fallout of an affair he had some time back and her mistrust, while understandable to a point, was over the top at times. Her distrust plays into events and the killer plays on that mistrust to his/her advantage. Livy comes to realize that while raising her kids and being a stay at home mother she has let slip other areas of her life. has narrowed her world to her husband and kids. Unfortunately we have to sit through a fair amount of whining while she makes that discovery.

"Trust In Me" wasn't perfect by a long shot but it was well worth reading, an engaging and fascinating story. I definitely want to read more by the author.